In addition, other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.
Although the present cabin monument and the associated fastening arrangement can be used in various types of vehicles, these and the problem addressed thereby are described in greater detail in relation to an aircraft cabin. In principle, however, the present embodiments can also be used in spacecraft, watercraft, rail vehicles or the like.
In addition to the passenger seats, aircraft cabins of passenger aircraft also comprise fixtures that are provided for use by the crew or the passengers of the aircraft. Such fixtures in an aircraft passenger cabin comprise for example storage lockers, toilets, galleys, bar fixtures etc. and are also referred to as monuments. Due to the naturally restricted space available in aircraft cabins, such monuments have a very integrated and compact structure and are additionally frequently provided as integral modules.
Such monuments are typically anchored in a fixed position on the housing thereof in a corresponding installation position inside the aircraft cabin. For example, a metal perforated rail can be mounted on a housing upper surface of a monument by means of screws, which upper surface in turn can be fastened to a primary structure of the aircraft by means of additional metal components, such as mounting brackets, connecting rods or the like. In order to allow as flexible attachment as possible, such perforated rails can be provided with regularly spaced holes, in which the additional connection elements can be fixed in a longitudinal direction of the rail at regular intervals.
Conventionally, such components for fastening monuments are produced from aluminium or a corresponding metal or metal alloy, for example by means of an extrusion process. However, for the purpose of weight reduction, the cabin components of modern passenger aircraft are increasingly constructed from fibre composite materials. For example, the housing walls of monuments are sometimes structured in sandwich constructions, a core made of polymeric honeycomb structures or foams being surrounded in each case by two panels made of glass-fibre-reinforced or carbon-fibre-reinforced plastics material. In contrast to the light composite components used in this case, the metal components of a monument fastening have a relatively high weight.
DE 10 2005 054 890 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,528,859 B2 describe for example systems for fixing monuments in position in aircraft cabins, in which a plurality of individual metal components are used for fastening. The system from DE 10 2005 054 890 A1 thus provides a system carrier for fixing interior fitting components at the heads thereof, which is fastened to a fuselage by means of a plurality of formers and is equipped with a plurality of fastening means for connecting the interior fitting components. Furthermore, said system provides at least one fastening rail which is located in a cabin floor, which extends in parallel with the system carrier and along which are located corresponding fastening means for fixing the interior fitting components at the feet thereof.